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Brian Koh
Interview with Digital Media specialist, Brian Koh
i find most privacy acts by online services adequate. i think if we are too private, the net wouldn't grow in terms of content. and when i say mindful, what i mean is that Internet users should know that once they publish something to the web, they are forgoing certain levels of personal privacy.
It comes down to personal branding or relations, because what you do online and how you're being tracked (if those were the conditions that you allowed yourself to be tracked.) is public information. People can use it for or against you. In the end, you want it to be used FOR you, building your personal brand, and your subject authority.
2. Being a prominent blogger, do you think that "fair use provisions" in the Copyright Act actually provide bloggers with sufficient protection? (http://is.gd/nrfd)
I'm no lawyer, so i can't really get into the nitty gritty. But as a general precaution, and also from an ethical perspective: Don't plagiarize wholesale, always credit someone else's work, link back to the original source, always check if there's copyright involved, if you're cleared under creative commons, syndicate away.
3. Could you tell me more about Ogilvy PR's digital media initiatives (such as The Open Room), as well as the nature of the work that the Digital Influence team does? How does this impact Ogilvy PR's business?
Digital Influence is an extension of traditional public relations. It's hard to put it into a box as we're an evolution of the old way of communicating. We harness the power of social media that can help amplify conversations, and also allows public relations to become personal and connect real people together. This works both ways for bloggers and brands alike.
This affects our business in a positive way. Communications has shifted in nature where the conversation is shared with the audience, and they are encouraged to converse with brands and their peers online. Just being in this space has allowed our communicators to grow professionally, and keep up to date with the industry. I would think we're more concerned about sustainability of the communications industry as opposed to unprecedented growth for a short period of time.
4. How is Social Media taking off in Asia as a whole? Have you been able to utilize Digital Media to solve a network client's problem?
Social media has taken off very well. Two years ago, most clients were skeptical about social media. Today, most are starting to look past just wanting a social media campaign and seriously re-looking the way they are choosing to communicate with their stakeholders.
Having a social media campaign doesn't make you special, but it does make you current.
5. Have you/a client of yours ever faced a crisis that was handled mainly by using Social Media tools?
Sure. We constantly set up listening posts and alerts for our clients. There have been no major crisis yet, but we've had a few unruly online flaming or negative sentiments that we deemed unfair, stepped in and made peace with. All our online monitoring is done by social media tools. But there have been no Twitter wars or crisis management that required extensive use of the tools. yet.
6. Adoption of new technologies could pose a problem to communicators who use Social Media – In you experience do clients/other PR companies really get 'it'? Or are they still reluctant? If so, will we ever have something like the 'Wikinomics' model take off?
We're still a bit far off from the 'Wikinomics' model, simply because a lot of us locally, are still experimenting with what we can do online. I'd say it's a bit of a culture thing, sometimes when we're online we're not entirely professional in the way we handle certain situations, or we're unfamiliar with the online culture. But increasingly, i think some of us do get it, and while it's a longer and harder battle to fight than just inanely running blogger engagement / events, ultimately in our experience, the community appreciates when we're transparent, open, honest and give back by helping grow the community grow. Not just treat it as numbers that make up media hits.
7. What is your opinion on the regulation of the Internet? We've experienced how the Chinese government has clamped down on certain sites. Do you think that there needs to be a lot of regulation, some regulation, or no regulation of the internet/blogs?
There has to be some degree of regulation that protects fair use of original content. We should protect the effort it takes to produce content that benefits netizens.
As for freedom of speech, expression and media consumption... it's a bit more open ended. I think that public discourse does not equate to outright anarchy, and if our society is to mature in either being tolerant of other people's beliefs and opinons, regulation is not the answer, but education and open discussion. We have to be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them instead of having our Internet discourse mapped as a series of binary right and wrongs.
8. Is there a big divide between Gen X and Gen Y in terms of familiarity with Social Media? If so, how is this difference reconciled by marketers and communicators?
There is a difference. Gen X'rs sometimes do not understand the speed in which Gen Y'rs communicate, and Gen Y'rs are sometimes too impatient. I think reconciliation comes from mutual respect, and understanding of the two generations. Be patient with each other.. Y'rs should show how social media works, demonstrate responsibly, keep sharing, keep bugging them and certain walls will break down. Y'rs should also respect their seniors because we aren't going to save the industry singlehandedly. We may have a lot of opinons, but we don't always have a lot of answers. X'rs can help by being patient, asking though provoking questions instead of just writing off a younger colleague, educate themselves by reading what others are saying about social media. Re-learn a skill if they need to.. stay current with the industry.
9. There's been a lot of talk about the death of traditional media and Social Media taking over. Do you think that we are headed for this scenario, or is there going to be a marriage of traditional and digital media?My inclination is that there will be a marriage. Sooner or later, we will find a balance that will reveal the ideal marriage between the cost of running a print publication and sharing content digitally. I still believe print is precious to us.. because of the effort taken to produce, i perceive some print as actually having a higher quality than digital sources of information. But it can't match digital in terms of syndication and speed.
The business of print will change, i don't know if the model will support dailies, weeklies or monthlies.. but print has advantages over digital for it's form factor, editorial style (it ain't as rushed.. generally speaking, and you can take your time with it.) Monocle (www.monocle.com) talks of publishing houses delving into merchandise and cafe ownership.. having well stocked news stands that act as cafe joints and in house low cost printers to print publications on demand. Verticals will be re-looked at to find the most cost effective way to syndicate information that rely on a analog / physical medium. Mobile devices and integrated CPU's will also be the future of digital transmission. It'll be very exciting.
1. What do you think about issues of privacy that accompany Web 2.0? Are you very careful while maintaining your overall online identity?
Privacy concerns / issues are definitely important discussions on the web, but i guess no one really pays much attention to them. i don't pay attention to them, but i am mindful.i find most privacy acts by online services adequate. i think if we are too private, the net wouldn't grow in terms of content. and when i say mindful, what i mean is that Internet users should know that once they publish something to the web, they are forgoing certain levels of personal privacy.
It comes down to personal branding or relations, because what you do online and how you're being tracked (if those were the conditions that you allowed yourself to be tracked.) is public information. People can use it for or against you. In the end, you want it to be used FOR you, building your personal brand, and your subject authority.
2. Being a prominent blogger, do you think that "fair use provisions" in the Copyright Act actually provide bloggers with sufficient protection? (http://is.gd/nrfd)
3. Could you tell me more about Ogilvy PR's digital media initiatives (such as The Open Room), as well as the nature of the work that the Digital Influence team does? How does this impact Ogilvy PR's business?
This affects our business in a positive way. Communications has shifted in nature where the conversation is shared with the audience, and they are encouraged to converse with brands and their peers online. Just being in this space has allowed our communicators to grow professionally, and keep up to date with the industry. I would think we're more concerned about sustainability of the communications industry as opposed to unprecedented growth for a short period of time.
4. How is Social Media taking off in Asia as a whole? Have you been able to utilize Digital Media to solve a network client's problem?
Having a social media campaign doesn't make you special, but it does make you current.
5. Have you/a client of yours ever faced a crisis that was handled mainly by using Social Media tools?
6. Adoption of new technologies could pose a problem to communicators who use Social Media – In you experience do clients/other PR companies really get 'it'? Or are they still reluctant? If so, will we ever have something like the 'Wikinomics' model take off?
7. What is your opinion on the regulation of the Internet? We've experienced how the Chinese government has clamped down on certain sites. Do you think that there needs to be a lot of regulation, some regulation, or no regulation of the internet/blogs?
As for freedom of speech, expression and media consumption... it's a bit more open ended. I think that public discourse does not equate to outright anarchy, and if our society is to mature in either being tolerant of other people's beliefs and opinons, regulation is not the answer, but education and open discussion. We have to be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them instead of having our Internet discourse mapped as a series of binary right and wrongs.
8. Is there a big divide between Gen X and Gen Y in terms of familiarity with Social Media? If so, how is this difference reconciled by marketers and communicators?
9. There's been a lot of talk about the death of traditional media and Social Media taking over. Do you think that we are headed for this scenario, or is there going to be a marriage of traditional and digital media?
The business of print will change, i don't know if the model will support dailies, weeklies or monthlies.. but print has advantages over digital for it's form factor, editorial style (it ain't as rushed.. generally speaking, and you can take your time with it.) Monocle (www.monocle.com) talks of publishing houses delving into merchandise and cafe ownership.. having well stocked news stands that act as cafe joints and in house low cost printers to print publications on demand. Verticals will be re-looked at to find the most cost effective way to syndicate information that rely on a analog / physical medium. Mobile devices and integrated CPU's will also be the future of digital transmission. It'll be very exciting.
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